Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

23 reviews

brizlee's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Genuinely made me scared of a puppet. Also loved the twist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Death

Minor: Pregnancy

siobhanward's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'm so torn about Grady Hendrix. I loved My Best Friend's Exorcism , but nothing has been as good before or since. This was very middle of the road for me. It felt like things dragged on forever - so much time was spent building up Mark and Louise, and frankly I could not bring myself to care about them. They were both just kind of shitty people. Not bad enough to outright remove them from your life, but I wouldn't be rushing to invite either of them out to dinner.

The main plot (once we got there) was cool - unfortunately, that was mostly just the last 150 pages. Once things got going, they moved quickly and really got interesting. Honestly, the last 50 pages changed the book from 2* to 3* read. If Hendrix could write everything as well as the last bit of this book, that would be amazing. Unfortunately, he spends a lot of unneeded time trying (unsuccessfully) to build a background.

Hendrix does get points for recognizing that puppets and dolls are creepy af and should not be tampered with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Child death, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Medical content and Pregnancy

jessthanthree's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, and Gore

Moderate: Medical content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Child death, Animal death, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Excrement, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

chasingpages1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Body horror, Gaslighting, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Alcohol and Pregnancy

rebeccalaur's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Oh my gosh, I didn't realise how much puppets freaked me out until I read this! 

The first section of the book is titled 'Anger' and I totally agree. There were a few scenes at the beginning that made me rage at one of the characters, as the main character does, although I think that is the goal.

I love how there is always an element of humour in Grady Hendrix's books. In How to Sell a Haunted House, I found the main characters' aunts and cousins, so funny, especially when

they all got together to try to defeat the evil menace

. I was picturing a room full of Jamie Lee Curtises ala Halloween haha!

Pupkin was super scary. Particularly that he could completely take over someone's mind even with just his likeness. The scenes where the college students put on Pupkin masks and wreaked havoc were a bit disturbing!

I really enjoyed reading this book and felt so many different emotions throughout. Another great instalment from Grady Hendrix.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pregnancy

Puppets are a big theme throughout the book.

Pupaphobia

markedwithanm's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Self harm, and Blood

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Pregnancy

blacksphinx's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I was not expecting a book about an evil clown puppet to make me cry like that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Vomit, War, Child abuse, Pregnancy, and Car accident

Minor: Self harm

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think this was pretty good, probably my second favorite Grady Hendrix that I've read so far. I think what really took it over the edge was the sibling dynamic and the themes of grief of several types throughout. It became less about the horror of it all and more about the humanity of our main characters, even when the horror became just a little absurd. I think the only reason this isn't a 5 star for me is just that I think there are some aspects that could've been explained better in the narrative. I still have some questions that are annoying me. Overall though, a decent read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Animal cruelty, Murder, Body horror, Blood, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Child death, Excrement, Grief, Child abuse, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Moderate: Pregnancy

doomcookie's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

stuffed animals being training wheels for your heart really got me 🥲

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, Car accident, Child death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy and Fire/Fire injury

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book is 100 pages too long. We went through what 100% felt like the climax of the book, had a chapter tying up loose ends, a chapter that would have been a perfect

bad

ending, and instead there were 100 pages left. I put the book down for two days after that, because I just didn't feel like reading the same scenario all over again.

This is also a book where you have to get 100 pages in before anything happens. I was honestly thinking to myself, "Is this really a Grady Hendrix book ?" due to how serious and slow the entire beginning is. I was really struggling to care, especially with how unlikable the brother character was. I actually thought he was making the MCs unlikable so that

we'd be rooting for Pupkin in the end. I honestly thought we were going to get a "bad" ending here.

I'm one of the people who didn't know this was a doll/puppet book going into it. As a child I found porcelain dolls terrifying, and my mom had a clown painting I was afraid of. I should have been primed to be scared by this book, but I think it was too ridiculous to actually come off as scary. This author writes camp, so that's to be expected, but usually his books have some brutal scenes that catch you off guard and really lean into the horror. Unfortunately, there was only one scene that did that for me in this one. 

Honestly, the puppet is my favorite character in this book. He is so fucking ridiculous and I love him. I read a sentence here and there to my husband as I was reading, and now we're quoting a freakin' puppet at each other. 

Overall, I felt that this book was too long, repetitive, and I didn't care for the ~family~ aspect at all. The story is completely ridiculous, yet too serious at the same time. I think campy horror is a formula that's tough to get right, and for me this one was a bit of a miss. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Car accident

Minor: Pregnancy, Alcoholism, and Self harm